Spirit of St Louis, named for the craft that carried “Lucky Lindberg” on the historic cross-Atlantic journey, flew through the lane to win the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) on Saturday.
The Pegasus Turf was the main event on the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) undercard, part of the annual festival at Gulfstream Park that blends high fashion with fast racehorses.
In a day filled with longshots, Spirit of St Louis continued the pattern with an upset over Integration for his seventh win in the last nine starts.
How can a horse with that record be such an outsider? The answer lies in the fact that the 6-year-old gelding is a New York-bred, and most of those wins came at the expense of fellow state-breds.
Coming into the Pegasus Turf, performance was not an issue for Spirit of St Louis. Class was the unknown component as he stepped up to face a high-quality field in the biggest test of his career.
Chad Brown's Spirit Of St Louis and @Tyler_Gaff run down Integration and Frankie Dettori in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf! pic.twitter.com/12uqE8goLC
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) January 25, 2025
Given a chance to shine on a larger stage by trainer Chad Brown and the ownership group led by Madaket Stables’ Sol Kumin, Spirit of St Louis rolled through the lane to beat Integration by a neck in 1:44.50 for the 1 1/8 miles over the firm course.
Chasing the Crown, the longest price in the race at 64-1, came from last in the 12-horse field to get the show spot.
The race unfolded with Formidable Man and Win for the Money dictating the pace with Integration right behind the leaders.
Rounding the second turn, Integration made his move and smoothly edged past the tiring pacesetters. For the 7-2 second choice, it was his race to lose from that point.
And lose he did as the Spirit of St Louis, with Tyler Gaffalione aboard, came motoring through the lane to secure his 10th win in 14 starts.
Midpack for most of the race, Spirit of St Louis swung out to the eight path for the stretch run that carried him to victory in the final strides.
“Tyler, I haven’t seen him run a bad race the whole meet,” Brown said. “I just haven’t had horses good enough. I finally brought one that was good enough.”
Now that he’s proven he belongs at the top level, Spirit of St Louis will likely bid farewell to the New York breds for the foreseeable future.
“We flirted with the Breeders’ Cup a little bit but we all huddled up and we all agreed to go to the Pegasus,” Brown said. “I think we can see him at a mile to a mile-and-an-eighth in Grade 1s. There is one right before the 2025 Kentucky Derby (G1) and I’ve won that race (Turf Classic) a few times. I’d say that’s on the schedule.”
Nations Pride, the 5-2 favorite, was never a factor. He finished ninth.
The complete order of finish after the top three was: Mi Hermano Ramon, Fort Washington, Major Dude, Win for the Money, Grand Sonata, Nations Pride, Balnikhov, Battle of Normandy, and Formidable Man.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
